It’s natural and expected for a coach to always defend his players.
But Sunday, the most famous active basketball coach in the country took it too far.
At the end of the Duke-North Carolina game, UNC star Tyler Hansbrough took a nasty fall to the floor and had blood all over his face after receiving a blow to the head from Duke’s Gerald Henderson.
Initial reports Sunday indicated that Hansbrough’s nose was not broken. News broke Monday that indeed, the nose was broken, but Hansbrough still hopes to play in his team’s first conference tournament game.
The play occurred while Hansbrough was going up for an offensive rebound with 14.5 seconds left during UNC’s 86-72 win.
To me, there was probably no intent to actually hurt Hansbrough ““ Henderson was likely just being too aggressive, maybe even trying to commit a hard foul. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
That’s not the issue I’m concerned about.
After the game, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told reporters something that is completely unsportsmanlike and disrespectful.
“The game was over before that,” Krzyzewski said. “I mean the outcome of the game, let’s put it that way. That’s unfortunate too that those people were in the game in that play. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
Krzyzewski is essentially blaming North Carolina and coach Roy Williams for Hansbrough getting hurt. The quote makes it seem like Hansbrough deserved what was coming to him.
First of all, Coach K is known as one of the best mentors and teachers among coaches across the country. What does blaming a nasty fall and bloody nose on the other team’s coach teach your players? Should your young men blame their problems on other people?
Secondly, Coach K is the coach at Duke, and Duke-North Carolina is one of the top college basketball rivalries in the country. Does he honestly expect UNC to give his team a break? Also, 14 points is a significant margin, but it’s not a huge blowout. It wasn’t a 20 or 30-point lead. At 14 points, a couple of 3-pointers could make it a close game again.
Blaming UNC and Williams for Hansbrough’s injury only gives you and your team a thug mentality.
No, this isn’t as bad as what Temple coach John Chaney did two years ago when he admittedly put players into a game late against St. Joseph’s to commit hard fouls and “send a message.”
But as big of a name as Chaney is, his prestige is nowhere near Krzyzewski’s.
Krzyzewski was supposed to be a man of integrity. He was supposed to be a man who stood for what’s right about college basketball. He is a man that has done so many great things for the sport on a national level. He is a man that many of the nation’s leading basketball analysts fawn over, and until Sunday, they had every reason to.
I think I’m being so hard on Krzyzewski because I expected more from him.
This quote just makes him sound like a sore loser ““ one who is going through a season that has been much rougher on him than most.
If anything, this just makes Krzyzewski more human. He’s not the perfect basketball icon many thought he was.
Well, we still have Ben Howland to fill that role.
E-mail Quinoñez at
gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.